NME Festival blog: ‘Are we good enough?’ – Twenty One Pilots open up about their insecurities

Twenty One Pilots have opened up about the insecurities they still feel, despite their global success.

The duo, comprised of Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun, are set to release their new album ‘Trench‘ on Friday (October 5).

Speaking to Kerrang!, Joseph explained the duo deal with the same questions about their abilities as everyone else. “There’s certain things that you work through, as a human,” he said. “Obviously, there’s things where it’s like, ‘Are we good enough to play music for a living? Are we good enough to write songs and show people what we’re made of?’ As things got bigger, there was some confidence instilled in us – like, ‘You know what? Actually we can do this…’

“But there are also a lot of aspects of doubt and insecurity that the level of success doesn’t even affect. And, partially, I’m glad, because I don’t necessarily want that external reward to solve some sort of internal issue.”

He added those doubts fuel their live shows, saying: “I think that Josh and I will take every stage with a bit of needing to overcome something, and wanting to work through something. We never want to feel completely comfortable; we want people to see us working through something, and for us to struggle, and see a bit of turmoil and chaos.”

Asked if they had ever felt like they might be “going through the motions” while performing, he replied: “I would say that there was an aspect towards the end of the touring cycle for ‘Blurryface‘ where we started to feel like we knew what to expect at each show. And we didn’t like that.

“We don’t want to take the stage going, ‘I know exactly what’s going to happen tonight.’ As that started to sink in, it really started to make sense that we should wrap it up, and dive into creating this new music.”

Meanwhile, the band announced a series of in-store signings earlier this week (October 2) to take place next year. Fans will be able to meet Joseph and Dun at HMV stores across the UK in February and March.